In Quixa City, the news spreads like wildfire: they've done it, they've destroyed the Dungeon Spawner.
The silence finally breaks, and an explosion of cheers, screams, and happy tears fills the room, creating an atmosphere that's extremely emotional and full of hope.
Ray just lets out a sigh, his smile broadening as he said, "Finally... Finally i've been survive again."
***
After a brief celebration, Ray and the other refugees are directed to temporary tents to rest and recover.
Through the massive bunker gates, hundreds of surviving special forces finally enter Quixa City Bunker—many of them wounded, but their faces still etched with unmistakable joy.
Ray just sits quietly, resting in his tent. He eats the food given by the guards who are watching over the bunker.
He picks up a chunk of coarse bread from his meal plate and, without hesitation, takes a big bite, driven by hunger.
'Crunch'
"This is so hard, it's like biting into wood," he says with a slow sigh. But what can he do, he should be grateful and keep chewing the hard bread.
Not long after finishing his meal, a loud alarm—or rather the bunker bell, rings out, prompting all Fool City refugees, including Ray, to immediately rush out of their tents.
"Attention to all surviving citizens of Fool City!" says someone walking towards the refugee tent.
"God has saved your lives, oh poor souls, this is an event we call the Second Attempt! A second attack that has befallen our city!"
"Let me introduce myself... My name is Caesar Astrios XI, the president of Quixa City and Fool City... It's an honor to meet you, citizens of Fool City," says Caesar loudly and confidently.
"The President of Quixa City and Fool City? I've never seen him before," Ray mutters to himself, furrowing his brow.
"Hey you idiot peasants! Don't you dare be so bold, be grateful you've been saved, how dare you ignore the president," says one of the guards loudly with a threatening expression.
Seeing that, the surviving refugees were a little frightened—they immediately applauded and smiled, it was clear they were forced and shocked.
Ray was also startled by the guard's outburst, he also applausing to. He didn't think Quixa City would be racist like this.
The president's hand immediately stopped the guard and made the guard, including the refugees, fall silent. "I apologize because my guard has behaved rudely."
"President! You don't need to be so—" Caesar immediately shot a sharp glare at the guard, making him fall silent and lower his head.
"As you all know, citizens of Fool City, you no longer have a place to live… Of course, that is because the Dungeon Spawner destroyed your homes. Naturally, as the president, I allow you to stay here temporarily while Fool City is in the reconstruction phase… But!" the president immediately grinned as he extended his index finger.
Ray furrowed his brow as the president added the word 'but'. Clearly, something was off.
"But you must become workers... No, slaves to Quixa City during the reconstruction phase," the president continued, his previously friendly smile now twisted into a menacing grin.
"What?! Of course we won't! Do you think we're-" one of the Fool City residents shouted loudly. Hearing the rebellion, the guard immediately pointed his rifle at him and shot him.
All the refugees were in shock seeing one of them killed—their eyes wide with surprise and fear, including Ray.
"Is there anyone else who wants to rebel?" says the president with a sharp and threatening gaze.
All the Fool City residents fell silent, their faces showing clear fear and cold sweat pouring down. Even breathing felt difficult for them.
"Alright slaves... Off to work. Guards! Take all the women except the young children now!" the president turned and commanded, prompting all the officers to immediately enter the crowd of refugees and forcibly drag the women there.
"Mom! Please don't take my mom! I'm begging you!" a young boy Ray had seen before pounded on the guard as his mother was taken away.
However... The kid was really unlucky. The guard then pointed his gun at the little boy's head and eventually pulled the trigger.
"No! GIVE ME BACK MY CHILD! KILL ME!" the mother screamed hysterically as her son was killed right in front of her eyes—but the guard didn't care and kept dragging the woman away.
"Is there anyone else who wants to rebel?! Don't you end up like this little kid?! Understand it!" says the guard while firing a shot at the ceiling.
The other refugees just kept quiet and did nothing, they wanted to fight back but they knew it was impossible—while Ray could only bite his lip as hard as he could to hold back his emotions.
"Alright, male slaves! Follow me!" one of the guards said while pointing his gun.
They were initially too scared to step forward, the guard clicked his tongue in annoyance and pulled the trigger.
Just as he was about to shoot, Ray finally stepped forward.
All of the men who were initially hesitant finally stepped forward too—they swallowed hard and had no other choice, having survived this far.
***
After following quite far into Quixa City. The men, including Ray, then occupied a military place called Sherus Military—a gathering place for the military forces in Quixa City.
"You male slaves! Line up! We're going to do a stats check!" one of the guards said, then took out a device to check other people's statistics.
The Fool City men feel terrified, immediately complied out of fear. Once again, Ray was at the front of the line, forced to be, the other men were too scared.
Ray stepped forward as ordered, he then extended his hand—the guard then scanned Ray's palm.
The process was quite painful, but he tried to endure it.
Not long after, Ray's statistics appeared on the device and the guard immediately checked it.
「Name: [ Ray Arcelius ]
「Mana: [ 317/317 ]
「Class: [ The Summoner ]
「Perk:
[ Summon ]
[ Mana Flux ]
...
"T-two Perks! This first guy has two Perks right away! Both are combat-type Perks!" one of the guards said with wide eyes, making the other guards look at the device as well.
One of them couldn't believe it and looked at the scanning result—their eyes then widened as they found out. "What the...?! The first guy hits the jackpot!"
Ray was taken aback, confused by the guards' reaction. Two Perks? Is that something special?
He was then pulled and moved to one of the fields there—there were two empty fields and Ray was placed in the left field, making him even more confused but he remained still and patient.
"Next slave!" shouted the guard holding the examination device.
One of the men stepped forward and his stats were scanned.
「Name: [ Jake Smith ]
「Mana: [ 91/91 ]
「Class: [ The Assasin ]
「Perk:
[ Silent Blink ]
...
"Tch, only have one Perk? His mana is also very little," the man was then pulled and unlike Ray, he was placed in the right field.
The men took turns stepping forward, and after a while he was placed in the right field. And so on, no one was placed in the left field except Ray alone.
A few minutes later, the men were all placed in the right field except him—even the male slaves were almost done being scanned.
It was strange... Feeling that he was the one in the left field made Ray let out a sigh and hope that he wouldn't be messed with.
Maybe that's what he was thinking, until suddenly the guard shouted again and said jackpot again—one of the men who looked younger than him was moved to the left field with him.
The man looked very nervous as he entered the field with him. Until finally Ray started the conversation.
"By the way... Do you have two Perks?"
The man flitched slightly, then he looked at Ray's face nervously and with a little fear before finally he answered briefly. "Y-yes."
Now everything was clear. Ray concluded that the men who were moved to the left side of the field were someone who had two Perks—he then thought again, is it that special.
While on the right side of the field were definitely people who only had one Perk. The number was approximately less than a hundred, but Ray wondered again what was the purpose of the guards separating them?
"Ah... My name is Ray Arcelius... My class is The Summoner," he said with a thin smile while extending his hand to the man.
"M-my name is Seno Contra," the man replied nervously, then shook his hands with Ray.
"Alright, all you slaves! You can introduce yourselves or asking otherselves later! Now, right field, follow me!" one of the guards cut in, his eyes glaring towards the right field.
Then not long after, one of the guards approached Ray and Seno in the left field, the guard looked more friendly. "Alright, you two, please follow me."
They looked at each other for a moment, then obeyed and walked following the guard.
***
The two of them just followed the guard without any protest—until finally Seno whispered to Ray. "I wonder where we'll be taken?"
"You're asking me and I don't know either," Ray replied briefly.
The guard just chuckled softly and heard their whispering, until finally he began to speak. "You'll be taken to a special place, and for now, you two are safe."
"T-then what about the people in the right field?" Seno asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Them? Well... Nobody knows about that," the guard replied flatly, continuing to walk.
Hearing that, the two of them fell silent again. Ray then looked around the giant bunker again—truly gigantic, completely covering Quixa City.
Even so, he didn't know what Quixa City looked like, because they hadn't entered the area yet and were only at the very edge of the bunker.
"Yeah... No matter what, the citizens of Fool City are definitely discriminated against by the elites of Quixa City," he thought.
"Alright... We're here," the guard stopped, and so did Seno and Ray—the two of them looked ahead and their eyes widened greatly as they saw the huge and vast building in front of them.
"W-what is this place?!" Ray said, he was so shocked he almost forgot how to speak, Seno was the same, his mouth hung open.
"Oh yeah... I forgot to tell you guys," the guard replied, and then he stretched out his arms wide.
"This is the largest military building in Quixa City, the gathering place of the strongest special forces!"
"Behold!"
"The name of this... Aphares Military!"
. . .